Hi Melissa - I finally got a good shot of
Daisy with one of my students who was reading Emmitt's book...
check out Daisy's blog
entry 9/28/07. We had so much fun reading it and have been doing
the workbook too. It's perfect for my students and they LOVE
reading a book about another pug!!! I let him take the
ABC book
home to show his sister for the weekend because he liked it so
much! Big pug hugs from Switzerland, Lex & Daisy

Hi, Melissa.
I just wanted you to know that my first graders absolutely loved
your books, WHY AM I SPECIAL? and
EMMITT & OLIVE. As a matter of
fact, another teacher saw WHY AM I SPECIAL? in my classroom and
asked to borrow it to read to a particular third grader who
needed a little confidence boost. Then just today, I caught one
of my first graders reading EMMITT & OLIVE during silent reading
time. She got half way through today and asked for a sticky note
to mark her place until tomorrow’s silent reading time when she
plans to finish the story. You see, she was sick/absent on the
day I’d read it to the class and had been very disappointed when
she returned and found that she’d missed out. Luckily, she’s an
advanced reader so she can read it independently. The children
were mesmerized by the illustrations in both books. You did a
wonderful job of capturing the dogs emotions in their faces!
Thank you. It was a pleasure meeting you and sharing your books.
Roselyn M., RI

In years prior, if I created 5 paintings, I
was thrilled. My paintings do not come to me everyday. I
describe them as energy. I tell people that I can feel a
painting coming on. So, when I count how many paintings I
created in 2006, and see that the number is 51, I am amazed.

The 51 paintings include 11 pugs and 40
of what I call Pug Pals. For the first
time, I wanted to capture other breeds of dogs as well. With all
of these wonderful faces starring at me, I realized they were
characters in another children's book. So, in April 2006, I
started my journey of writing Why Am I Special?

I am extremely proud to share my book with the world.

An important lesson taught to me everyday by
my pug, Emmitt shines through.

We do not need to look long and hard, sometimes beating
ourselves up on the way, to find our purpose, why we are here,
why we are special. The answer is unique to each of us because
we are all unique in who we are and what we have to show the
world.

Be yourself. Appreciate who you are because it is a
gift to the world that inspires others around you more than you
will ever know.